Thanks to Kevin Kallsen at Anglican TV

Are gays indeed born that way? The question has immense political, social, and cultural repercussions. For example, some of the debate over applying the Constitution’s equal protection clause to gays and lesbians focuses on whether gayness is an inborn characteristic. And the major argument gays and lesbians have made for religious affirmation has been, “God made me this way.”

Thus, if it’s proven sexual orientations are not innate, much of the scaffolding upon which today’s LGBT movement has been built would begin to crumble. Given the stakes, most gays and lesbians are dismissive or hostile toward anyone who doesn’t think being gay is an essential, natural characteristic of some members of the human race.

But a surprising group of people doesn’t think that ”“ namely, scholars of gay history and anthropology. They’re almost all LGBT themselves, and they have decisively shown that gayness is a product of Western society originating about 150 years ago.

Read it all.

I will take comments on this submitted by email only to KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

The Slender Man is unnaturally tall. A dark-suited nemesis, a sinister stealer of children, he is sometimes described as having black tendrils that extend from his back, but always as having a white, eerie blankness instead of a face. He is said to have the ability to control mind and memory.

And he is not real.

But according to police, on Saturday two 12-year-old girls lured another girl to a forest in Wakuesha, Wisconsin and stabbed her 19 times. One of the girls allegedly told police they stabbed their friend to “prove [themselves] worthy to the Slender….“Slender Man was different,” said [Drew] Slater. “As you focused on him, you began to realize how … wrong he looked. He managed to actually look like a predator and a man, all at the same time. It was spooky.”

Read it all (emphasis mine).

Iraq is now in its worst crisis since the 2003 war. ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Group) a group that does not even see Al Qaida as extreme enough has moved into Mosul, which is Nineveh. It has totally taken control, destroyed all government departments. Allowed all prisoners out of the prisons. Killed countless numbers of people. There are bodies over the streets. The army and police have fled, so many of the military resources have been captured. Tankers, armed vehicles and even helicopters are now in the hands of ISIS….

Read it all.

You may find part one here and part two there.

I will take comments on this submitted by email only to KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

Mr Phelim McIntyre, who states he is ex gay, has published correspondence with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office, raising concerns about the Archbishop’s policy of imposing Stonewall materials on children in Church of England schools and his subsequent concerns about gatekeeping and the policy of the Archbishop of Canterbury and his office at Lambeth Palace. It is important in itself, and we suggest stands on its own as a matter of concern without other issues raised in the article here

I have decided to post the original letter and the email correspondence between myself and the Correspondence Secretary Andrew Nunn …..

Your Grace

I am writing to you concerning your statement that the Church of England must “embrace” the revolution on human sexuality to express my concerns as to the inviting of Stonewall into Church of England schools to tackle homophobic bullying and to ask you to consider, what I believe to be, a much healthier anti-bullying program that is more in line both with the science and psychology around homosexuality as well as more in line with the position held by the Church of England.

As someone who has worked as a youth worker and a community worker with gay and lesbian special interest group and now amongst the ex-gay community, as well as from personal experience as an adolescent, I am aware of how damaging homophobic bullying is. While I commend the Church of England’s commitment to stamp out bullying I am concerned that by opening the door to Stonewall, the issue will not be tackled in either a healthy way or in line with the position of the Church of England on human sexuality. Stonewall, while not taking the view too publically, believes homosexuality to be biological in cause despite evidence to the contrary. Because of this by allowing Stonewall into Church of England schools they will be given to platform to proclaim the born gay myth. There is also the issue that they are militantly anti the ex-gay message, including giving an award to Patrick Strudwick for his “exposure” of this type of therapy which included the call to persecute those therapist who offer psychological therapy sexual orientation change and their nomination of Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joint, the former Bishop of Winchester, for the “bigot of the year award” for stating in the House of Lords that many people do not believe that science has proven homosexuality to be biological and that some people have successfully changed their orientation from gay to straight, during a debate in the House of Lords.

I also believe allowing Stonewall to bring their anti-bullying campaign into Church Schools because they are focussing on apparently homophobic behaviour at the expense of other acts of bullying. As a Cub Scout leader I know that children of primary school age use words without understanding their meaning. By allowing Stonewall or others to focus on homophobia we are allowing the children to be exposed to details that are not appropriate for that age, while at Secondary school age allowing the focus to be on anti-gay bullying creates an unhealthy hierarchy of bullying where all bullying is wrong.

Finally I also believe that the position Stonewall takes is unhealthy as it reinforces sexual confusion amongst adolescents encouraging them to take labels for sexual orientation. This then has the same result as homophobic bullying amongst the sexually confused, whose testimonies, from ex-gay leaders such as Andy Comiskey and Rev Mario Bergner through to the Stonewall young gay spokesperson , tell as how homophobic bullying reinforced their confusion and caused them to take the label of homosexual/lesbian.

I enclose an introduction to an alternative course from the USA entitled Acception. It is written by Christopher Doyle of International Healing Foundation as a more positive alternative to the pro-gay campaigns developed by Stonewall and their counterparts, and Mr Doyle has stated that this course could be reworked for the UK context. If you would like to discuss this or have any questions of my own esperience please do contact me.

Your faithful servant

(Phelim McIntyre)

Cc Rt Rev Tim Dankin, Bishop of Winchester
———————
Thank you for your 19 July letter to which I have been asked to reply.
Though opposed to same sex marriage for the reasons he gave in his speech to the House of Lords at the Second Reading debate http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/5069/archbishop-justins-speech-to-the-lords-on-the-governments-gay-marriage-bill the Archbishop recognises that through Parliament society has made its view very plain that there has been a sea-change in attitude toward homosexuality.
As you say, the Archbishop spoke about this in his Presidential Address to the General Synod http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/5098/there-is-a-revolution-archbishop-justins-address-to-synod and called for the Church to be more aware of the trends in society and more alert to how our words and actions can associate us in other people’s minds with the kind of homophobia that is totally inimical to the Christian Gospel.
Elsewhere, but not in his address, he has mentioned a number of charities and organisations that do excellent work in school tackling homophobia and bullying. Stonewall is one among several such though a widely respected leader in the field.
Yours sincerely

………………
To: Lambeth Palace
Subject: Re: A reply to your letter (Our Ref: 6965)

Dear Mr Nunn

Thank you for your reply to my letter of 19th July. I am sorry to have to say that I am disappointed with it as it does nothing to tackle my concerns about Stonewall’s position on homosexuality that is contrary to the teaching of the Church of England, and their being asked to give advice on this subject when there are other resources available that are just as positive but not contrary to the Church’s teaching. I therefore need to ask for clarification on how the Church of England is going to handle the promotion of homosexuality as normal and unsinful by Stonewall in light of the document that came out under the Listening Process instigated by the previous Archbishop of Canterbury.

Yours sincerely

Phelim McIntyre
……………….
Subject: RE: A reply to your letter (Our Ref: 6965)
I think you’ve misunderstood Mr McIntyre. Stonewall is among a number of organisations that have been mentioned in connection with work in schools to tackle homophobic bullying. None of the organisations are being asked by the Church to talk about homosexuality. When it comes to bullying, who better to speak about it than someone who has been bullied for being gay?

Andrew Nunn
Correspondence Secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lambeth Palace, London, SE1 7JU,
……………….
Subject: Re: A reply to your letter (Our Ref: 6965)

Dear Mr Nunn, I think that you have misunderstood my concerns. As someone who was bullied for being gay and now receives weekly threats of violence (including death threats) because I am publicaly ex-gay I have a better understanding of what teenagers go through than many. I doubt that you have been to a Stonewall anti-bullying presentation or a Schools OUT presentation as within that they state that homophobic bullying is wrong because of the person’s sexuality and go further and state that people are born gay, despite there being no scientific evidence to support this position. This is part of their anti-bullying curriculum. The psychological evidence is that homophobic bullying reinforces sexual confusion, Stonewall ignores this to promote a “born gay” agenda.

As to listening to those who have been bullied for “being gay”, this is why I sent details of the Acception Course which includes testimonies of those who have been bullied for being gay but which does not reinforce the confusion teenagers feels.

I hope that this clarifies my concerns and why neither of your responses have been adequate.

Yours sincerely

Phelim McIntyre
……………
Well Mr McIntyre, since we’re putting cards on the table, I am gay and I have no doubt whatsoever that I was born this way. You utterly contradict my experience and that of the vast majority of gay men and women by promoting a specious theory that people can change their sexuality. All research shows that they cannot. There are doubtless some people ”“ and you may be one of them ”“ who are genuinely bi-sexual and able to chose a heterosexual or homosexual focus to a sexual and emotional relationship, but most people aren’t and can’t. Please understand that your experience ”“ which I do not deny or disparage ”“ is not typical of that of the vast majority of LGBT people.
As you will know, in the USA, Exodus, the Christian ”˜reparative therapy’ group that ruined the lives of untold number of gay men and women has shut up shop and its former leaders have publicly apologised for the terrible harm their organisation did to a large number of homosexuals. And not before time.
In the area of homophobic bullying, the Church must stop telling people what the answer is and with humility listen to find out what the question is. As far as the majority of gay people in this country are concerned, the Church is the problem, not the answer. Archbishop Justin is understandably concerned about that and anxious to listen to their experience and to learn how to move forward with them.

Andrew Nunn
Correspondence Secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lambeth Palace, London, SE1 7JU
………………
Subject: Re: A reply to your letter (Our Ref: 6965)

Dear Mr Nunn. As to laying “cards on the table”, nothing in my email was not in my original letter which raises the question as to whether you read it. In the letter I commend the Archbishop of wanting to tackle bullying but raise my serious, experience based, concerns as to the involvement of Stonewall.

Contrary to your claims of being born gay, please may I encourage you to bother to read the scientific evidence as to the biology of homosexuality. Professor Michael King, founder of the Gay and Lesbian Special Interest Group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a practicing homosexual stated during a debate at the Houses of Parliament earlier this year that there is no evidence that homosexuality is biological in causation. The American Psychological Association, in their statement against Reparative Therapies, states that there is no evidence for people being “born gay”, as does the Human Genome Project. Both Simon Le Vay, who did the research into the difference in the hypothalmus in gay and straight men, and Dean Hamer, who did the research into the gay gene, also state there is no evidence that people are born gay, infact Dr Hamer has been involved with research that has stated there is no evidence for a genetic component in homosexuality. I can provide details of all the relevant research if you wish. Also, using the Twin Registers in Australia, research has been done into the levels of when, in monozygotic twins where one is gay the other is also gay. The concordance (rate) is 13%, if we compare this to issues where we see evidence for a biological cause, such as breast cancer, we get a concordance of 80%. This raises serious doubts as to your claim of being “born gay”.

As to my testimony – I came out at the age of 13 at at the time had no sexual feelings for females. Under the various definitions I was homosexual. By the time I was in my twenties I was in a gay relationship. Now in my forties, I have not had a homosexual feeling for over 10 years. I am not bisexual by any form of definition as I have no sexual feelings for men. As supported by psychological research that has been presented to annual conference of the American Psychological Association, such as the paper by Jones and Yarhouse, all of which were read for the Anglican Listening Project which I had the privilege to be part of, I have changed my sexuality and I am disappointed that the gatekeeper to the Archbishop of Canterbury would be so discriminatory to dismiss the testimony of healing in such a naive way. You claim not to deny or disparage my experience yet claim that I am bisexual. This shows that your words are not supported by your email.

As to your statement about Exodus International, many groups within Exodus International disagreed with the statement that came from Alan Chambers and told him so, and I can provide links to these statements. These groups have since gone on to form Restored Hope Network and Hope for Wholeness – both of which have people with testimonies for change. It should also be pointed out that Mr Chambers never underwent any form of therapy to change his homosexual feelings so is not qualified to speak out in the way he did. Across the globe there are thousands of people who have been helped and healed by groups that came together under the Exodus umbrella and they are starting to rise up and speak out against the anti-ex-gay bigotry that they are experiencing. As to how harmful these things are, are you aware that the “research” that claims harm, from Dr King and from Schildo and Schroder, carry no psychologically recognised definition of harm and no recognised measurement of harm? That the research, such as Jones and Yarhouse, and Nicolosi et al, have included the issue of harm in the research and found this type of therapy to be no more harmful than any other psychological intervention. Would it shock you to know that the prefered type of therapy for unwanted homosexual feelings, as stated by the United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapy, British Psychological Society, British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, American Psychological Association and other “professional” groups – therapy to accept your sexuality – has no proper research into its safety and effectiveness? That the only papers published have been by the practitioners with no independently viable statistics? That in one case the “evidence” for the acceptance of the clients homosexuality include the person engaging in promiscuous, unprotected sex, the involvement with BDSM practices and the taking of party drugs? How about that the preferred psychological intervention with the National Institute for Clinical Excellence in Health (NICE) for Myalgic Encephalomylitis causes serious harm in over 25% of cases, and NICE’s preferred psychological intervention causes serious harm in nearly 20% of cases treated for anorexia? This compares to less than 10% for Sexual Orientation Change Efforts. Even past presidents of the American Psychological Association who practice therapy to help people accept their sexual orientation support sexual orientation change efforts http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/07/30/sexual-reorientation-therapy-not-unethical-column/2601159/

Please take the time to read the book that came out of the Listening Project of Human Sexuality “The Anglican Communion and Human Sexuality” (SPCK PUblishing ISBN 9780281059638) before commenting further.

In His service

Phelim McIntyre
(ex-gay and proud)
…………..
Subject: RE: A reply to your letter (Our Ref: 6965)
You write “I came out at the age of 13 at the time had no sexual feelings for females. Under the various definitions I was homosexual. By the time I was in my twenties I was in a gay relationship. Now in my forties, I have not had a homosexual feeling for over 10 years. I am not bisexual by any form of definition as I have no sexual feelings for men.” ”“ so do you have sexual feeling for women?

Andrew Nunn
Correspondence Secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lambeth Palace, London, SE1 7JU,
…………..
Subject: Re: A reply to your letter (Our Ref: 6965)

Yes Andrew, I do have sexual feelings for women and none from men, unlike when I was in my teens when I only had sexual feelings for males and none for women. This reality is something that Peter Tatchell recognises as possible.

Subject: RE: A reply to your letter (Our Ref: 6965)
So you are heterosexual. Why define yourself by reference to something that you no longer are?

A
………….
Subject: Re: A reply to your letter (Our Ref: 6965)

Because this is my testimony. I was gay and now I am not.

I also need to clarify my concern about Stonewall. I am a qualified youth and community worker and, as part of my job and because of my sexuality at the time, I ran gay/lesbian/bisexual youth clubs and also helped with gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender support groups. I had a number of young people who were sent to the youth group who had expressed a concern that they might be gay who were sent to the youth club because they must have been gay, in a number of cases it was because they were sexually abused by men. Taking the time to talk with them, they had strong sexual feelings towards females and little or none towards men, but when they were molested had had an erection. I have since then talked with guys who have been told they must be gay because of the slightest of things (one got a slight erection when he was tested for bowel cancer). While a lot of teenagers may be sure of their sexuality there are others who are genuinely not sure, and the position that many people take traps some of these in a sexuality that is not theirs. We need to find away to support those who are sure of their sexuality, while not entrapping those who are not yet sure. While Stonewall’s position supports the former it does not help the later.

Phelim
………….
Subject: RE: A reply to your letter (Our Ref: 6965)

Well let’s not get into a discussion about abuse. I spend a lot of time here dealing with people who have been abused by priests and so know more than you probably think about abuse survivors. And as for young people being ”˜trapped in a sexuality that isn’t theirs’ ”“ well I’ve met plenty of homosexuals who have been trapped in a straight sexuality because of social pressure but never a heterosexual who has been trapped in a homosexual one – perhaps until now.
If you were once attracted to men and now are attracted to women, that’s fine; no one has a problem with that. There are undoubtedly a lot of people who could say the same, or the opposite. One need only think of circumstantial sexual attraction ”“ same sex schools, prison, the armed forces. What very few do however is to self-identify by reference to that historic change, rather than their current sexual preference. It is an issue because the ”˜ex-gay’ movement is so widely discredited and plainly has an anti-gay agenda. You spoke about being threatened and even receiving death threats. It’s not because you don’t fancy men any more, it’s because you identify with an American anti-gay movement that has done terrible harm to people, and which seeks to undermine the credibility of peoples lives and relationships. It is widely regarded (though not formally designated) as what the Americans call a ”˜Hate Group’. And by associating yourself with it, inevitably people will hate you. Sorry.

Andrew
………..
Sorry Andrew, rather than being the “hate group” that you speak of ex-gays have legally protected status against discrimination. Would a former head of the American Psychological Association speak out in support of the ex-gay movement if it was as widely seen as a “hate group” as you think?

As to abuse, I was sexually assaulted by a woman at the age of 9 and raped by a man when I was 16. As a counsellor I regularly deal with male victims of sexual abuse.

The threats I get are generally worded that I am telling lies because I claim to have changed my sexuality, that I am still/was never was gay, and if I continue to help others then they will use any means to stop me. My testimony frightens people, but that won’t stop me sharing it.

Phelim

My Western background left me completely unprepared for this Eastern take on the feast of the gift of the Spirit to the Church. In Western Churches, Pentecost particularly focuses on the “fire” of the Holy Spirit lighting on the disciples in the upper room and the “empowerment” of the Church for mission. Traditionally in the West, the color of the feast is red (for the fire).

In the East, the color of the feast is green ”“ which is also the color worn for the feast days of monastic saints. In the West, green is the “ordinary” color worn in the “in between” Sundays and weekdays of the Calendar. For the Orthodox, gold serves this function.

Read it all.

O Almighty God, who hast fulfilled thy word of promise, and from thy heavenly throne hast poured out upon thy Church the gift of the Holy Spirit: Open our hearts, we pray thee, to receive the fullness of his grace and power; that our lives may be strengthened for the service of thy kingdom, and our souls be conformed more and more to the image of thy Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

–Frank Colquhoun

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

–Ephesians 6:10-12

We were all nervous, but one of my abiding memories is standing with a whole tin of corned beef in one hand and a hunk of bread covered with thick butter in the other and thinking, “If I am killed and this is the condemned man’s last meal, I wish it was some of my mum’s home cooking.” (As it turned out, that was the last piece of bread I ate for about four months ”” it was hardtack biscuits from then on.)

When we were about four miles from the shore we were ordered to get into the craft, which bobbed several feet below the deck. We lined up to make the jump one by one, from one moving deck to another.

The sea was choppy, rising up and down by about 16 feet, bringing the smaller craft up next to the ship and then moving them out of reach, so we had to judge the right time to jump and hope for the best. A few of our blokes misjudged it and were crushed between the hulls….

Read it all.

And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, they brought to him a paralytic, lying on his bed; and when Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, take up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

–Matthew 9:1-8

A senior Sudanese official has told the BBC and other media outlets that Ms Ibrahim would be freed in a few days, but her lawyer told Channel 4 News that this was “absurd” and that the family has not been told there was any chance of her release from jail.

Read it all.

Moderator: “Questions in English, please.”

Reporter: “Congratulations.”

Mahut: “Congratulations? I lost.”

Reporter: “You lost? OK. So what happened out there?”

Mahut: “Are you serious? Did you watch the match?”

Reporter: “No, I didn’t. I was told that you won. I’m sorry.”

Mahut (in French): “Questions in French, please.”

Read it all.

[Mohler:]…as an evangelical concerned with many of the same things, I just want to come back and ask: When you look at evangelicalism and you look at evangelical churches, what do you see as the particular moment that now presents us with a completely different set of challenges? In other words, be a prophet for a moment. You can do that. In other words, where is evangelicalism going to be given the increasing secularization and the hyper-modernity of our culture?

Hauerwas: I think evangelicalism is destined to die of its own success and it will go the way of mainstream Protestantism because there’s just””it depends far too much on charismatic pastors, and charisma will only take you so far. Evangelicalism is constantly under the burden of re-inventing the wheel and you just get tired. For example, I’m a big advocate of Morning Prayer. I love Morning Prayer. We do the same thing every morning. We don’t have to make it up. We know we’re going to say these prayers. We know we’re going to join in reading of the psalm. We’re going to have these Scripture readings. I mean, there’s much to be said for Christianity as repetition and I think evangelicalism doesn’t have enough repetition in a way that will form Christians to survive in a world that constantly tempts us to always think we have to do something new.

Read it all (dated but still relevant).

Bishop Gene Robinson, whose 2003 election as the first openly gay Episcopal bishop rocked Anglican Communion, has announced his divorce from his longtime partner and husband.

Robinson, who retired in 2013 as the Bishop of New Hampshire, and his partner of 25 years, Mark Andrew, were married in a private civil union in 2008. The announcement was made public Saturday (May 3) in a statement to the Diocese of New Hampshire.

“As you can imagine, this is a difficult time for us ”” not a decision entered into lightly or without much counseling,” Robinson wrote in a letter. “We ask for your prayers, that the love and care for each other that has characterized our relationship for a quarter century will continue in the difficult days ahead.”

Read it all.

I will take comments on this submitted by email only to KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God comes to our realm, howbeit he was not far from us Acts 17:27 before. For no part of Creation is left void of Him: He has filled all things everywhere, remaining present with His own Father. But He comes in condescension to show loving-kindness upon us, and to visit us. And seeing the race of rational creatures in the way to perish, and death reigning over them by corruption; seeing, too, that the threat against transgression gave a firm hold to the corruption which was upon us, and that it was monstrous that before the law was fulfilled it should fall through: seeing, once more, the unseemliness of what was come to pass: that the things whereof He Himself was Artificer were passing away: seeing, further, the exceeding wickedness of men, and how by little and little they had increased it to an intolerable pitch against themselves: and seeing, lastly, how all men were under penalty of death: He took pity on our race, and had mercy on our infirmity, and condescended to our corruption, and, unable to bear that death should have the mastery””lest the creature should perish, and His Father’s handiwork in men be spent for nought””He takes unto Himself a body, and that of no different sort from ours. For He did not simply will to become embodied, or will merely to appear. For if He willed merely to appear, He was able to effect His divine appearance by some other and higher means as well. But He takes a body of our kind, and not merely so, but from a spotless and stainless virgin, knowing not a man, a body clean and in very truth pure from intercourse of men. For being Himself mighty, and Artificer of everything, He prepares the body in the Virgin as a temple unto Himself, and makes it His very own as an instrument, in it manifested, and in it dwelling. And thus taking from our bodies one of like nature, because all were under penalty of the corruption of death He gave it over to death in the stead of all, and offered it to the Father””doing this, moreover, of His loving-kindness, to the end that, firstly, all being held to have died in Him, the law involving the ruin of men might be undone (inasmuch as its power was fully spent in the Lord’s body, and had no longer holding-ground against men, his peers), and that, secondly, whereas men had turned toward corruption, He might turn them again toward incorruption, and quicken them from death by the appropriation of His body and by the grace of the Resurrection, banishing death from them like straw from the fire.

–Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word

Churches and pupils at church schools across the school are today planting poppy seeds in memory of those who fought and died in the First World War.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, took to Instagram earlier in the month to ask that people plant the seeds “to remember the terrible events of the First World War and as a sign of our hope in Jesus Christ for peace in the future”.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, is getting involved by planting seeds in the grounds of his official residence, Bishopthorpe Palace.

Read it all.

Catharina MacMillan lived a private life, raising her two children, volunteering at their schools, hiking, skiing and playing tennis with them, cheering them on at hockey and rowing, taking them home to Sweden for summers and supporting her husband’s business career as he rose through the Canadian banking echelons, beginning with Bank of Montreal and ending as president, chief executive officer and then chair of CIBC Mellon.

“She was heroic, but she didn’t make a big fuss about how brave she was,” said her sister-in-law, historian Margaret MacMillan, the author, most recently, of The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914. “None of us ever heard her complain” about a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in her 20s, breast cancer in her 50s, or how the two diseases conspired to rampage through her body in her 60s….

Asked last fall if she had any regrets, Catharina said no, articulating a straightforward philosophy: “Try and do what is right, and even if it is not right for somebody else, as long as you are happy with your decision, it is probably right for you.”

Read it all (again my emphasis).

Lord Jesus, risen from the dead and alive for evermore: Stand in our midst this day as in the upper room; show us thy hands and thy side; speak thy peace to our hearts and minds; and send us forth into the world as thy witnesses; for the glory of thy name.

–John R. W. Stott

The US says Russian military aircraft have entered Ukrainian airspace several times in the past 24 hours, amid rising tension in the east of the country.

A Pentagon spokesman told the BBC late on Friday that the incidents had happened mainly near the border with Russia, but gave no further details.

Earlier pro-Russian separatists seized a bus carrying international military observers, Ukrainian officials said.

Read it all.

The lure of Christian worship as much as the attraction of history and architecture is driving a boom in visits to cathedrals, according to the guardian of England’s national heritage.

Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, said it was clear that cathedrals are bucking a national trend towards declining church attendance.

Official figures from the Church of England show that the 42 Anglican cathedrals in England alone attracted around 12 million visitors last year.

Read it all from the Telegraph.

then there was the Hutu man I talked with several months after the genocide ended. Fat and middle-aged, he was in jail for beating to death more than a dozen of his Tutsi neighbors.

He told me they were people he’d been friends with and regularly shared dinner with. He was a godfather to one of the children he killed. He couldn’t explain why; he said didn’t know what came over him.

For me, this sums up the Rwanda genocide. It’s like a madness took over the country, turning otherwise normal, reasonable, loving people into monsters. It took me a long time afterward to try to make sense of what I had witnessed.

But I finally concluded there was no use trying. I believe mankind, at its base, is good. What happened in Rwanda 20 years ago was an aberration.

Read it all (my emphasis).

The voice of the tempter does not come out of an abyss only recognized as ‘Hell’. It completely conceals its origin. It is suddenly near me and speaks to me. In paradise it is the serpent–quite plainly a creature of God–through whom the tempter speaks to Eve. Indeed there is no sign of the origin of the tempter in fire and brimstone. The denial of the origin belongs to the essence of the seducer.

–Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall: Temptation (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997 ed. of the 1957 tr. of the 1955 German original), p.116 (emphasis mine)

The trial illuminated the dangers awaiting amateurs like Mr. Sutherland who wade into the online art market. One of Britain’s most successful artists, Mr. Hirst is perhaps best known for his conceptual works, including sharks and other animals preserved in formaldehyde tanks, and diamond-encrusted human skulls, but his minimalist polka dot paintings named after drugs and abstract round “spin” paintings are relatively easy to copy. They are often produced by his assistants.

The key question facing jurors was whether Mr. Sutherland, 46, a pastor at the nondenominational Mosaic Miami Church, knew that one of the paintings he sold was fake and hid that knowledge from an undercover officer who bought it in February 2013, just a week after Sotheby’s auction house had rejected it as inauthentic.

Mr. Sutherland, who took the stand on Friday, told the jury he got into the art market in 2010, at first trading “cowboy art” on eBay. In August 2010, he bought a set of what he believed were dot prints by Mr. Hirst from a California lawyer named Byron Grace and resold them in Florida at a $7,000 profit.

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Family and friends gathered Saturday at the first memorial services for victims of the massive Washington mudslide, as crews continued their search for more than a dozen people still missing.

The funeral services for Summer Raffo, 36, and Linda McPherson, 69, followed a prayer service Friday night honoring the victims, families and rescuers affected by the deadly March 22 mudslide in Oso.

“The number of victims is beyond understanding ”” many are in this room. Even if you didn’t have direct contact with someone involved, we all are victims,” said Chaplain Ralph Fry at the Friday service.

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A few years back, you may recall a “Beer Summit,” held at the White House, where President Obama served as mediator between a notable college professor from Harvard who was wrongfully arrested by a local police officer due to the suspicion that he may have been involved in burglaries. This event seemed helpful in reconciling two seeming intractable parties.

There may be lessons we could learn from that episode, applied for a new day. This week, Mozilla Firefox CEO, Brendan Eich, was forced out of his job after gay activists protested a donation Eich made to Proposition 8, an initiative designed to uphold marriage as the union of a man and woman.

[To get us to move forward as a society] what’s needed is a civil public square where different points of view are tolerated. This perpetual showdown just isn’t sustainable.

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O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as thou art, O LORD, with thy faithfulness round about thee?

–Psalm 89:9

In the middle of March Madness, Michigan State’s Adreian Payne has more than just basketball on his mind. Hear the wonder story of his unlikely friendship with an 8 year old girl named Lacey Holsworth who has been fighting cancer.

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Update: There is a lot more here.

“What we are affirming today is there are certain beliefs that are so core to our Trinitarian faith that we must take a strong stand on those beliefs,” said Stearns. “We cannot defer to a small minority of churches and denominations that have taken a different position.”

“Yes, we will certainly defer on many issues that are not so central to our understanding of the Christian faith,” he said. “But on the authority of Scripture in our organization’s work [and employee conduct] … and on marriage as an institution ordained by God between a man and a woman””those are age-old and fundamental Christian beliefs. We cannot defer on things that are that central to the faith.”

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On Monday 24th March, Refuge-Egypt were delighted to invite Bishop Mouneer Anis of the Egyptian Anglican Diocese to celebrate the opening of our newly refurbished Medical Clinic in Zamalek!

Zamalek is a tiny island in the middle of the Nile and has been the main hub of our offices for over 20 years. It is also the site of the Anglican Diocese in Egypt. The clinic here provides primary medical care to African and Syrian refugees. Through our medical staff here we are able to give group health education seminars, one-on-one help for expecting mothers, checks and screening for young children and support for those suffering from malnutrition. We also offer services and information on HIV/AIDs, family planning and TB.

Read it all and you have to love the picture.